TV shows I want to see again, but can’t find

James / August 8th, 2011

Turbo TeenCartoon show from the early 80’s about a guy who turns into a car. It was the earliest show I can remember watching as a child, and is the first thing I ever recorded on a VCR. I haven’t seen it in 25 years or more. Would be nice to revisit. I’m aware that there’s some clips on YouTube, but it would be great to have a complete set on DVD. I won’t hold my breath.

Insomniac with Dave Attell (Philadelphia episode)It blows my mind that there are not one, but TWO “BEST OF” DVD sets, but NO Philadelphia episode! “Best of”, my ass! Not good enough for my money. For shows that didn’t run too long to begin with, I don’t understand what the harm would be of just releasing ALL the episodes right off the bat. I’d love to see that Philadelphia episode again some day.

CrossBallsI only saw a few episodes of this mock debate show from the 2000’s, and from what I’ve seen, it was funny as hell! Wish I could see it again, but apparently it sank beneath the radar, never to surface anywhere.

Hey! Spring of Trivia (original Japanese name “Fountain of Trivia”)Out of all these shows, this is the one I remember laughing the hardest at. It was so fucking funny, I almost puked. I’ve tried searching for this, and other than a few clips on YouTube, there’s not much of it out there. Would love to have a complete DVD set, and I can’t imagine it being as funny in its native language. The way I remember it was dubbed. Hilarious. Top of my wish list.

Comments

I remember Turbo Teen, that was indeed a great show. I used to watch it all the time in the 1980s. One show I’d like to see again is the animated Swamp Thing from the early 90s. There was an 80s one as well, but I’ve seen that recently and it didn’t hold up very well. The one in the 90s was much darker. I’d like to see Mutant League again as well. : )

I remember watching it on Spike as a nice extra treat from watching episodes of the equally ultra hilarious MXC! Wished the network would air more episodes or find a way to put as much as they could for the DVD. Sometimes I would imagine myself on the show hearing certain trivial facts and always wanted to push the Hey button many times depending on how shockingly true the facts are. I’ll see if there are any full episodes to be found online.

I found three episodes of Turbo Teen and a full season of CrossBalls on TV Vault, but I don’t know how hard that tracker is to get in to or indeed if you accept that sort of anti-social behaviour (torrents).

Speaking of old TV shows, anyone ever notice how many of the old cartoons are no longer on television? I was just mentioning this to my friend the other day. Speedy Gonzalez, for instance. Ever since the Cartoon Network went on air, those cartoons have not been shown(Ted Turner owns the rights to those cartoons, last I checked). You can’t even find them on TV. They were a bit racy at times- they contained references to Marijuana smoking and sex- but they’re tame compared to some of the things shown on TV today. Darn political correctness!

Oh, yeah, and while we’re on the subject, there’s this one cartoon that that they used to show on TV. It featured a cat and two squirrels. The squirrels(or chipmunks, I can’t recall). Anyway, these squirrels wanted at the food in the fridge, but the cat was blocking the way. So they concoct this plan to scare the cat out of the house. The plan works… until the cat finds out that it was the squirrels doing it all along. He gets his revenge, and then punishes them by making them beat out bedsheets.

I always loved that cartoon, because it was the first (and only) time that the underdog (or in this case, undercat), won. I’m kinda partial to the underdogs, ya know? I haven’t seen it in full since it became part of the Bugs Bunny and Road Runner show. They always edit out parts of the cartoons, and I hate it!

One more thing while we are on the subject of cartoons. Does anyone remember one where there is a dog dressed in a union jack, that spoke with a southern accent? He would always hum a tune. I forget what it is called. They used to show it all the time when I was growing up, and now I can’t see it anywhere on TV. If you know the name of it, I would be most appreciative. Thanks.

I have a set of the complete run of Crossballs gotten from “the usual sources”, and I’ll gladly send you a copy if you want. I’m also not sure your moral standing on such things, but if you’re interested my email is [email protected].

Sorry I can’t be of help, but I really enjoy these topics Cinemassacre is dealing with lately!
I remember a show about some warrior reptiles, turtles perhaps? Only they had no ninja features, but some robotic suits they put on (the other times, they wore fedoras and garbs.) It had “T-something” for a name if I recall right.

I totally agree about the Philadelphia episode of Insomniac!! That had to have been the best episode & it’s not on the DVD set!! I hope you find it James cause I’ve been looking all over for that episode myself.

Thanks James,I’ve been trying to remember the title to turbo teen for years.I was very young when it played but i really liked it.Oh and by the way its my first time commenting and i wanted to say i really love your site and all your videos thanks for all the hard work i really appreciate all the entertainment that your video procure me.

The most obscure cartoon I remember from when I was a kid was something called Pandamonium. Some weird cartoon about time-travelling panda bears or something. It seems like every funky old 80s cartoon has popped up on DVD or been referenced on an episode of the Family Guy or something, but I swear I’ve never heard anything, anything about Pandamonium anywhere.

I might have that Dave Attell episode on VHS somewhere. The problem is, I don’t have a working VHS player anymore, and I couldn’t begin to know where that tape is. That was one of my favorite episodes of that show, probably for the same reason you liked it so much. If I ever find that tape, I’ll let you know.

The episode “Ball Breakers” from Beavis and Butthead. I remember laughing harder during this episode than almost anything else. Too bad it was pulled from circulation when some idiot dropped a bowling ball off an overpass and killed a kid…

oh james i feel your pain to want something so bad and never get it
i love malcolm in the middle and they out of 7 seasons they only release the first one and cancel the rest due to music clearences and the icing on the cake was the first was only avalible in NA im EU nooooooooo i found a solution with a regional DVD Player but why not release the next 6 seasons i adore that show
also their are 6 seasons of fresh prince of bel air, 4 seasons are released in EU and NA get all 6 like WTF!!!!!! atleast release the last two so i can have the whole series

Space Above and Beyond.
Back before the internet I didn’t know it had been canceled so I waited and hoped for a new season for a very long time.
A few years ago I downloaded all of them and made my own DVD set, but I cant even find it now.

I miss a lot of the old Nickelodeon shows from the early 90’s that I haven’t been able to find released ….

The Adventures of Pete&Pete
Hey Dude
Salute Your Shorts
The Secret World of Alex Mack
Are You Afraid of the Dark
etc … so many awesome shows on Nick back then

Now in the 80’s, the first shows I can remember watching is Jem and the Holograms, and surprisingly enough they play it on HUB tv …. so I’ve been living my old rockingest self with the “truly outrageous” jams of The Holograms and The Misfits.

But still and forever in my heart will be the Thundercats which of course I own them on DVD.

BRING BACK GOOD TV! Just because I’m older now doesn’t mean I don’t like a good cartoon here and there!

somebody must have liked the show CrossBalls cause they posted the whole series on you. here’s the link, i never saw this when it aired but i watched at this link. so enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/user/CrossBallsTV

Jenny,
As of a week or so ago, almost all of the shows you mentioned are being replayed on Nickelodeon, saturday nights, during a program called “The 90’s are All That”. Now go and satisfy your hunger for now classic tv!

I remember “Turbo Teen”…that was awesome. I used to watch a show in the late 80’s called “Out of this World” which was about a teenage girl who was the product of a human-like alien from outer space and her Earth born mother. Her father’s alien genes gave her the power to stop time whenever she wanted by touching her index fingers together. She could unfreeze anyone she wanted by touching them…it was an interesting plot for a show, I wouldn’t mind seeing it again to find out if it is actually worth watching now…

I remember watching Turbo Teen as a kid here in Sweden, but I don’t really remember much about it. I assume it was in the late 80s, when a new channel popped up which started showing a lot of cartoons.

I can’t believe no one has mentioned VIDEO POWER that video game game show with Johnny Arcade that had that Acclaim cartoon in the middle during Season 2 I think. That show was awesome and I would’ve killed my parents just to be on that show. Running through the maze at the end just grabbing games and sticking them to your body, I would’ve been in absolute NES bliss!

Thank You James I’ve been Trying To Remember The Name Of Turbo Teen For Years, And None Of My Friends Remember The Show At All. some Old Show I miss And Can’t Find Are:

You Can’t Do That On Television
The Hitchhiker
Ray Bradbury Theater
Friday The !3th The Series
Captain N And The Gamemasters
Dragon Warrior
Danger Mouse
Marsupilami
Bucky O’Hare
Voltron (Vehicles not Lions)
Perfect Strangers
Amazing Stories

Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future
Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea
Ulysses 31

All in all, I can understand the feelings of nostalgia generated by childhood favorites. I’m just lucky I managed to get my two definitive Saturday Morning favorites on DVD (“Pole Position” and “Dungeons & Dragons”)

@John Joseph Cerniglia II
You have no idea how ecstatic I am that you remembered Bucky O’Hare!! I’ve had a VHS of it since I was a child, but anyone who I would bring it up to had no clue what I was talking about. Definitely made my day with this! : D

I have Captain N on VHS. I loved Turbo Teen especially the one episode where he gets into an arm wrestling match and starts changing cause he gets overheated. Vehicle Voltron is on DVD and can be found on Netflix streaming. Not sure why I have it but I have the complete japanese version called Armored Fleet Dairugger

I don’t know whether this was aired in the States. but in the late ninties and two thousands Teletoon in Canada aired an awesome cartoon based on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_and_Mortimer comic books. It had this Adventures of TinTin feel too it with all its drama and mystery and intrigue.

I would also loved to see that old Donkey Kong Country show again, some of the episodes are online but I need the full series.

The thing with Crossballs was, it would have two real commentators debating two comedians posing as experts on a subject, completely unaware that it was a fake show. It was clear it could only run for so long like this before making somebody too angry, and I was always pleasantly surprised every week it continued airing. Of course, finally, one of the guests threatened to sue the network, and that was that. The episode he was in apparently never aired.

In case anyone’s wondering after the above comment, Ronin Warriors came out on DVD, but both the box set and single volume releases are long out of print and extremely rare – they’ll cost you a mint at this point, especially the box set.

The cool thing about them was, they were double sided DVDs, with the dubbed Ronin Warriors on one side and the original subtitled Samurai Troopers on the other. Due to the way the dubbed version was edited, it would’ve been too much trouble to just have them as separate audio tracks.

This apparently didn’t happen on things like Teknoman/Tekkaman Blade (each released separately) due to few DVD replicators supporting the disc type.

Ulysses 31 has been available as DVD boxset in England for a while. Here’s a link:http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0002FR1DC/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1313233014&sr=8-1
I bought it a few years back because I vaguely remembered watching it when I was young, but it really struck me how desperately sad and hopeless most of the storylines are. It is based on Greek mythology and some of the stories from then are pretty harsh, but it is a kids cartoon. Still awesome though.

So, Since no one has been screaming for a “Rubic the Amazing Cube” box-set, I won’t either. Cause I wouldn’t buy it.

Haven’t seen a Q-Bert one either. Or Pac-Man for that matter. Yet agian, I wouldn’t buy either.

I was patient and did get a complete “Tales from the Darkside” on DVD which made me do a happy dance/Riverdance(tm)/interpretave dance of the state of the issue of zebra mussles in the Great Lakes. Um, I might have exaggerated that last one a bit.

But I am still waiting on a “Monsters” set to come out. And “Inhumanoids.” I WISH I would have gotten those toys when I was younger!

did anyone try surfthechannel.com because it usually has a lot of tv shows/movies both new and old. Whenever I’m looking for something I check there or I just really buckle down hard and search the web like crazy.

I’d like to see “The Benny Hill Show” on a complete box set of all the existing episodes. They have DVD’s of most of the show, but there’s no complete box set. I am aware that no copies of all the episodes exist, so they wouldn’t be able to have EVERY episode, but I’d like to see what I mentioned earlier in this comment.

Hahahahhaaa… I LOVED turbo teen!! I always liked how his mouth turned in to the grill of the car. I remember when I was a kid I tried to make a cardboard car costume of that red car. It didn’t go so well…lol

Just curious anyone remember an 80’s cartoon about a bunch of kids driving around in a futuristic train doing stuff. I remember watching it when I was little on saturday mornings, I think one of the characters name was Whiz kid

Turbo Teen was another of those Ruby Spears productions. I last saw it along with so many others on the USA network’s Cartoon Express. You can find a list of Ruby Spears productions that I feel is far from complete in Wikipedia. But All of them could really use DVD releases. They were after all the creators of Scooby Do too.